ST. PAUL, Minn. - Junior guard Terez VanPelt scored 22 points with four assists on 8-of-10 shooting to lift Concordia-St. Paul to an 85-71 win over Saint John's University on Thursday night at Gangelhoff Center. Concordia closes out the exhibition season with a 2-1 record as VanPelt averaged 22.0 points in the three tune-ups, dishing 20 assists along the way.

In addition to VanPelt's 8-of-10 shooting from the field, he was 6-of-7 at the stripe and only committed one turnover while gathering two steals.

The game had just one tie, at 2-2, and no lead changes as Concordia maintained control throughout the contest. The Johnnies kept the score close, though, as Concordia never led by more than 16 in the game.

Concordia was able to open up an early double-digit lead, 33-21 with just under eight minutes to play in the first half but the Johnnies narrowed the margin to five at the break, 44-39.

Concordia opened it back up early in the second half, pushing the margin back to 13, 52-39 with a 10-0 scoring run carrying over from the final possession of the first half.

SJU again trimmed the lead back to single digits but couldn't come closer than five points the rest of the night, cutting it to five four separate times the rest of the way. But each time, Concordia responded with points to end the threat.

The Golden Bears were able to offset a 44.6% shooting effort (29-65) and 26.75 three-point shooting (4-15) by getting to the foul line 28 times. There, Concordia made 23 free throws at 82.1% and outscored SJU by 16 points as the Johnnies were just 7-12 (58.3%).

Saint John's shot a similar percent from the field (46.6%) but made a blistering 55.6% (10-18) from three-point distance.

Concordia's defensive pressure also worked in its favor, forcing 16 SJU turnovers while committing only eight, leading to a 22-10 scoring margin off miscues and a 13-5 edge in transition.

While VanPelt grabbed the headlines, junior Travon Mitchell was excellent off the bench with19 points in as many minutes, hitting three three-pointers and converting all six free throws. Junior Keith Crockett also reached double-figures with 12 points.

Junior Cole Olstad filled the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds and five steals while senior Chris Halvorsen had eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.

SJU was led by Jack Wittenborg with 14 points while Kevin McKenzie added 10.

Concordia opens the 2013-14 regular season on Monday night, November 11 with a home game against Mayville State at 7 p.m.